Hall of Presidents – An American History Lesson at The Magic Kingdom

photo courtesy of photopin

Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Red Loop. Today we are exploring experiences that people tend to overlook at Disney.
If you started the loop from the beginning, you stopped by some wonderful attractions at EPCOT’s World Showcase.  Now, let’s travel to the Magic Kingdom and more specifically to Liberty Square as we head inside the Hall of Presidents.


Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, Hall of Presidents is great attraction to explore especially for an American History buff (like my self).

The waiting area could be an attraction by itself.  The area is filled with presidential artifacts from a variety of presidents.  Each of these artifacts can provide a history lesson to the youngest and oldest members of your travelling party.   Some of the artifacts that you can find are one of Woodrow Wilson’s golf clubs and even a beer mug used by George Washington.

The waiting area is large with opportunities to sit and wait if you want to do that as well.  In the center of the waiting area, guests will find a gated off area which contains the Presidential Seal.  This is the only place that you will see the Presidential Seal outside of the White House.   Congress even had to  pass legislation to allow Walt Disney World to display the seal.

Once inside the attractions, guests see the best part of the attraction…the 44 (soon to be 45) audio-animatronic presidents.  The first 43 presidents were all designed by the same man, Blaine Gibson.  Barack Obama was the first president designed by Gibson’s understudy, Valerie Edwards.  No word on who is designing the audio-animatronic for our current president, Donald Trump.

The most recent show was 23 minutes long and was narrated by Morgan Freeman.  Like the audio-animatronic designer, there is no word who will be narrating the newest version of the Hall of President show.

One of the great things about the Hall of Presidents is how infrequent the attractions needs to be closed for renovations.  The only time, that I’m aware of, when the attraction closed is when a brand new president is elected.  At most, the attraction closes once every four years and sometimes can go eight years between renovations.  A friend of mine, who recently got back from the world, provided me this rare picture of The Hall of Presidents under renovation.

As the cover image shows, Walt Disney World is trying to get people into The Hall of Presidents/raise awareness to the attraction.  To do this, they have employed The Muppets who have a 10-minute show outside of The Hall of Presidents every 60-90 minutes.  When The Hall of Presidents reopens in July, a refreshing way to spend an hour or so would be to watch The Muppets show before heading into the air conditioned comfort of The Hall of Presidents to take in the presidential artifacts before enjoying the new Hall of Presidents show.

 

For more overlooked Disney experiences,
check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!


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7 thoughts on “Hall of Presidents – An American History Lesson at The Magic Kingdom”

  1. I hadn’t experienced Hall of Presidents in a few years prior to a 2015 or 16 trip, when I remembered how much I enjoy it. I love that it focuses on the office of president and the ideals of a democracy, versus any individual president or political leaning. We don’t go every time, but it definitely deserves the spotlight sometimes – beyond the whole “good place to take a nap” trope 😉

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